5 ms·

Chinese database is tracking cellphone usage, car location and more

fock 8y ago
We can't say we didn't know... Still, human forgetfulness is probably even more enshrined in society than it was 80 years ago.
jstanley 8y ago
In other news, every (developed) country is tracking cellphone usage, car location, and electricity usage in every city.
- will4274 8y ago
  From the article: > The IJOP system, which keeps track of practically the entire Xinjiang population, alerts authorities when a person unexpectedly crosses virtual "fences" by driving past a certain checkpoint or checking into a hotel Is there a western country where the government gets push notifications each time a citizen travels too far from home? Pointing out similar privacy problems of other modern governments is fine, but trying to excuse the worst of the worst (China) by claiming it happens everywhere is a false equivalency.
  - thfuran 8y ago
    And even if it does happen elsewhere, that's no excuse for anywhere it happens.
  - jstanley 8y ago
    I wasn't trying to excuse anything! I was pointing out that the problem is much broader than China. But you're right that I only read the headline, and the article does make it sound worse than the headline did :).
    - CharlesColeman 8y ago
      > I wasn't trying to excuse anything! I was pointing out that the problem is much broader than China. > But you're right that I only read the headline... Please don't do that. Your hot take based on the headline was identical in form if not intent to a propaganda technique called whataboutism, which is meant to distract attention away from particular abuses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism
- learc83 8y ago
  "Chinese authorities in Xinjiang are building a comprehensive database that tracks the precise locations of its citizens, their mobile app usage, their religious habits and even their electricity and gasoline consumption as part of a technology-driven crackdown that has interred an estimated 1 million Muslim citizens, according to an analysis of Chinese government software by a U.S. rights group." We should speak out against western countries doing this, but the difference is that China has escalated this from privacy concern to dystopian nightmare. Western countries may get to the level where they track people's religions for the purpose of rounding them up, but China is already there. There are a million (and by some estimates up to 3 million) Uyghurs in concentration camps because they practice the wrong religion/belong to the wrong ethnic group. Historically, a very possible next step is to transform concentration camps into extermination camps. We don't know if shining a light on the situation will prevent this, but we have to try.
  - downvotemeonce 8y ago
    Well the west couldn't and most likely won't stop the muslim religious extremism and China tries to do things on their own. I'm not saying it's good but it's clear that they don't want the same thing happening there.
    - learc83 8y ago
      >Well the west couldn't and most likely won't stop the muslim religious extremism and China tries to do things on their own. These are Chinese citizens within China's borders. What does the west dealing with it's own problems with Islamic extremists have to do with it at all? Just to be clear, you created an account to make excuses for putting people in concentration camps.
      - downvotemeonce 8y ago
        >What does the west dealing with it's own problems with Islamic extremists have to do with it at all? Quoting the article: "... educating and de-radicalizing a Muslim population that became increasingly influenced by extremist Islamic ideology"
expressrunning 8y ago
Related: How China turned a city into a prison https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/04/world/asia/xinjiang-china-surveillance-prison.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/04/world/asia/xi... “Children are interrogated. Neighbors become informants. Mosques are monitored”

fock 8y ago

We can't say we didn't know... Still, human forgetfulness is probably even more enshrined in society than it was 80 years ago.

jstanley 8y ago

In other news, every (developed) country is tracking cellphone usage, car location, and electricity usage in every city.

will4274 8y ago
From the article: > The IJOP system, which keeps track of practically the entire Xinjiang population, alerts authorities when a person unexpectedly crosses virtual "fences" by driving past a certain checkpoint or checking into a hotel Is there a western country where the government gets push notifications each time a citizen travels too far from home? Pointing out similar privacy problems of other modern governments is fine, but trying to excuse the worst of the worst (China) by claiming it happens everywhere is a false equivalency.
- thfuran 8y ago
  And even if it does happen elsewhere, that's no excuse for anywhere it happens.
- jstanley 8y ago
  I wasn't trying to excuse anything! I was pointing out that the problem is much broader than China. But you're right that I only read the headline, and the article does make it sound worse than the headline did :).
  - CharlesColeman 8y ago
    > I wasn't trying to excuse anything! I was pointing out that the problem is much broader than China. > But you're right that I only read the headline... Please don't do that. Your hot take based on the headline was identical in form if not intent to a propaganda technique called whataboutism, which is meant to distract attention away from particular abuses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism
learc83 8y ago
"Chinese authorities in Xinjiang are building a comprehensive database that tracks the precise locations of its citizens, their mobile app usage, their religious habits and even their electricity and gasoline consumption as part of a technology-driven crackdown that has interred an estimated 1 million Muslim citizens, according to an analysis of Chinese government software by a U.S. rights group." We should speak out against western countries doing this, but the difference is that China has escalated this from privacy concern to dystopian nightmare. Western countries may get to the level where they track people's religions for the purpose of rounding them up, but China is already there. There are a million (and by some estimates up to 3 million) Uyghurs in concentration camps because they practice the wrong religion/belong to the wrong ethnic group. Historically, a very possible next step is to transform concentration camps into extermination camps. We don't know if shining a light on the situation will prevent this, but we have to try.
- downvotemeonce 8y ago
  Well the west couldn't and most likely won't stop the muslim religious extremism and China tries to do things on their own. I'm not saying it's good but it's clear that they don't want the same thing happening there.
  - learc83 8y ago
    >Well the west couldn't and most likely won't stop the muslim religious extremism and China tries to do things on their own. These are Chinese citizens within China's borders. What does the west dealing with it's own problems with Islamic extremists have to do with it at all? Just to be clear, you created an account to make excuses for putting people in concentration camps.
    - downvotemeonce 8y ago
      >What does the west dealing with it's own problems with Islamic extremists have to do with it at all? Quoting the article: "... educating and de-radicalizing a Muslim population that became increasingly influenced by extremist Islamic ideology"

expressrunning 8y ago

Related: How China turned a city into a prison https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/04/world/asia/xinjiang-china-surveillance-prison.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/04/world/asia/xi... “Children are interrogated. Neighbors become informants. Mosques are monitored”